Expectation is also vital to recovery. It is a hope that says I can let go of the past with all its fears and failures and I will take hold of tomorrow today, with an expectation that I will see my hope realized.

Courage allows you to see what causes you to fear. Facing your fear allows you to conquer it. For many of us who have been diagnosed with a mental illness, our fear is our diagnosis. The challenge of facing it is sometimes daunting but we courageously face it.

Open mindedness is a vital ingredient to hope of sustained recovery. You are no longer being controlled by a diagnostic title; neither are you controlled by naysayers who delegate you to some stereotype. You are on the hero’s journey of recovery and you have to be willing to see the world in a different way. This takes the courage of an open mind that says, "I am willing to look and I am willing to try."

V stands for virtue. The dictionary defines virtue as moral excellence but we must be honest with ourselves: we all fall short of living to our highest standard. However, as long as we are willing to move forward toward a better life and lifestyle, this is the highest moral excellence anyone can have. It incorporates a humble honesty and opinion of who we are along with the courage to reach towards becoming all that we can be.

Enthusiasm comes to those who get excited about the hope of mental health. It is seen in those who define their own well being – in those who refuse to say, “The doctor says ‘I am my diagnosis’ so it must be so. Therefore, what’s the use of trying?” It is refusing to resign yourself to any standard lower than being all that you can be as a person.

Responsibility says: “If I am to remain in a healthy frame of mind, and I have to take medication, then I will take medication as prescribed by my doctor. I will take every step necessary to improve myself with enthusiasm, courage and an expectation that my hope of recovery will be realized.

You are the master of your destiny as far as your recovery goes, and you are the owner of your own heart. No one understands what it feels like to have the challenge of your personal diagnosis except you. You have the right to be who you are: a person who can think, feel and act.

These thoughts are not definitive truths. These are just my thoughts, but they are thoughts that I have gained after my own recovery from multiple diagnoses and medications, that at one point were as high as 3000 mg per day. Today I am declared as healthy, with no symptoms of a diagnosis, and no need of medication. I have been so since June 17, 2001.

Daniel G. Cullen

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